there will be very difficult and important decision that will need to be made in order to address the recommendations that are set forth by the accreditation committee. there will also be a lot of good faith negotiation that will have to happen in order to protect our city college. but tough decisions and reforms are what city college needs at this time. and we must first protect and serve the students of city college and make sure they remain have our number one priority. but any improvement means change from the status quo. it will also mean decisions about reform, decisions reflecting strong leadership and good governance that will improve our city college system and protect this accreditation. to that end, i have given very careful consideration about who to appoint to fill this vacancy at such a critical time in our city college history.

we need somebody who shares my vision of reform and some who will make the tough choices ahead. today i am proud to appoint rodrigo santos as the new trustee of the san francisco city college. [applause] not only to make good good decisions, correct ones, but also to complete the term of trusty marks. rodrigo is an individual that brings a wealth of knowledge and fiscal and managerial expertise, but he is committed and passionate about education and educating all of our youth, just as he has done with his incredible twins and with the help of jenny.

rodrigo has been and is based on business owner. he has had a history of community service. he has volunteered on a number of different conditions, including the san francisco building inspection commission, the former president of that commission, but i think most importantly he has been an incredible part of our workforce development commission because that is exactly what our kids are looking for when they graduate and complete their city college. it is not just about a degree. it is about whether that degree leads to full employment. that is what people are looking for. this is what rodrigo stands out in my mind amongst all the people that we had a chance to take a look at. he has been involved as a pro bono structural engineer. his firm is a structural engineering firm, but he has been a part of many of our local nonprofits to have their projects successful in the past 20 years. i know rodrigo is a stronger

performer. he is an advocate on behalf of students and he is committed to our city college and it will not lose its accreditation with rodrigo's help. [applause] for these reasons, i am presenting to you, rodrigo, as a great asset to our city college, and i want to thank him for stepping up and accepting this appointment at a time when we really need reform. thank you to you, jenny, and the two kids for supporting you as well. it is most important than ever before that we do whatever it takes to get our city college back on its feet, for the sake of current and future city college students, for their families, and for all our city residents. it is a critical institution and we are preparing our residents to compete, not just to get the degrees, not just to get the

job, but as a city, we need a city college that will help us compete with all the other international cities of the world, and it happens right here. so with that, i want to ask rodriguez to step forward and take the oath. please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i, rodrigo santos, do solemnly affirm that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that i

will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california, that i take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and then i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter during such time as i hold the office of a member of the city college board of trustees for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. [applause]

ladies and gentlemen, if i could present to you, rodrigo santos, the newest member of our board of trustees. [applause] >> i am honored for this great appointment. as a new member of the board of trustees, i can tell you i will do everything in my power to ensure not only do we follow the great work of former trustee milton marks. that great legacy of public service. but at the same time, i join an institution that must be saved, an institution that must be preserved. [applause]

i am absolutely committed to that goal. that goal will be shared by my fellow trustees. i will be working diligently with them to ensure we have not only the consensus that we need to pass a difficult reforms, but more importantly, we must support the interim chancellor pamela fisher. [applause] our primary duty is to ensure that she receives the support and tools needed to implement the difficult reforms that are going to be required to preserve this incredible institution that teaches this

history, as the mayor said, over 90,000 students. we're going to offer that supports. we think it is crucial as trustees to give the chancellor the support that is required, and at the same time, we will hold her accountable. we will help her, we will challenge her, and i know she is imminently qualified to help us save this institution. i will tell you a little bit about my background. i am a naturalized u.s. citizen. i was born in ecuador. i came to the bay area, went to stanford university, and have a master's degree in structural engineering which i obtained in 1981, started my own structural

engineering firm in 1988, santos and urrutia engineers. my partner is somebody that i met at stanford university. albert is a native san franciscan that attended the san francisco community college. there is a program where if you take 28 units and you get 3.65 and above, you have a direct path to uc-berkeley for better, stanford. [laughter] i forgot this was being televised. [laughter] i met albert and we started the firm in 1988.

that is 25 years ago. we employed over 25 people. quite a few of them, members of this city college. let me tell you, we hear a lot of negative things about the community college. but i must assure you, that in terms of technical expertise and great educators, we have absolutely the best teachers in the nation. [applause] i can guarantee you we will be preserving them. i have, behind me, my wonderful family, my wife jenny, my two twins -- one of them.

adriano and alexander santos. alexander graduated from ucla and is a proud member of the famous structural engineering firm of santos and urrutia. my daughter is a graduate of boston university. she works for the san francisco international terminal marketing division. born and raised san franciscans. i want to encourage everyone out there listening that this is the best city to raise a family. regarding a few of those articles that you read about families leaving san francisco -- don't. stay in the city. this is what can happen to you if you stay. [laughter] in terms of my dedication, i

think, san francisco has embraced me, has welcomed me, has allowed me to prosper, allow me to raise this incredible family. as a naturalized u.s. citizen, i tell you i have learned a great deal about compassion, public service, and it is time for me to give something back to a community that has embraced me and opened their arms to me. [applause] and that is what i intend to do as a new trustee. you may have heard that i have an unusual work schedule. i open my office every morning at 5:20 a.m.

i have an open house for anyone that want to come to my office to talk to me, hopefully, about engineering, until it o'clock a.m. i have been doing that for the last 25 years. why? because i would dedicated and committed to establishing and creating a successful business. i will bring the same commitment to the community college. [applause] and to ensure it does not affect my private business, i will be opening the office at 4:00 a.m. [laughter] finally, i think is time for me to give something back to this wonderful community. i can guarantee you that nothing would give me more pleasure than

being known not only as a structural engineer, but more importantly, as one of the trustees that was instrumental in saving city college. save city college. [applause] >> thank you, everybody. we can stay behind to answer a few questions before we go. we have a meeting to begin right away with chancellor fisher, and we have a lot of things to talk about. >> [inaudible] fairly conservative organization, polarizing organization [inaudible]

i will give you the chance to answer why you chose a polarizing individual. >> i would challenge that as being incorrect. the business background that rodrigo brings to this is a huge asset for city college. part of the challenges, if you read closely the recommendations, is the challenges of not only fiscal but governance. having a business mind, i think, will be a welcome thing for the rest of the trustees, to have a conversation with someone with a business background. >> [inaudible] >> i do think the board of trustees will be less about politics and more about how to do good administration of the city college and make sure it is fiscally sound as well as the governance of it is sound. i think that is where the skills that will be a good match. >> [inaudible]

>> my organization is extremely diverse. it is an organization interested in high density housing near transportation hubs. it is an organization that is green, an organization interested in responsible growth. i do not know why you characterize that as polarizing. >> what have you done to protect the accreditation of the city college? >> we first need to make sure that we offer the interim chancellor all the tools she needs to be able to respond to the original eight items, now 14. we have until october 14 to make sure that we have covered those items. >> any specifics? >> i will be interacting with the interim chancellor and the mayor shortly so i want to make sure we can understand the global perspective and the responses we will be providing. i want to speak with a uniform

boyce. >> given your background, how will you evaluate [inaudible] >> we will be analyzing everything. as a structural engineer, we will make sure the facilities we have, we will be analyzing them, and they need to be efficient. do we have the possibility of consolidating some of those facilities? i am not sure. we will be making the tough decisions and a proper analysis. no money will be wasted. >> we all sound very excited because we have some special

guests. we have nearly -- mayor lee. [applause] and we also have our very own superintendent coranza. i am sure you want to hear a few words from the superintendent, correct? from mayor lee? the spring them a warm harvey milk will come. -- let us give them a warm harvey milk will come. >> good morning, everybody. welcome back to harvey milk academy. it is my pleasure to join all of you, the students, parents, faculty, and school administration, to kick off a wonderful year. how many students want to be mayor of san francisco? how about a mayor from the civil

rights academy of harvey milk? we would be proud of that. i want to welcome everybody back. i know you had a great summer. i want you to approach this school like a sponge, soak up everything that you can learn. it is great to have knowledge about everything going on in the world, what is going on in the city. by the way, i will be supporting your parents and teachers and faculty to make this the best school in san francisco. how about that? [applause] and you are starting out fantastic. this is what san francisco is about. all the parents involved children and faculty to make this the best school. you have a mayor that will pay attention to our school, education, make sure you get the best education, because i want you to have my job some day.

how about that? welcome back, welcome to the great school of harvey milk. you have a wonderful faculty who is going to teach you and expose you to a lot of different things to keep you active. we are going to help the city make sure your after-school programs are solid. thank you and have a great year. welcome back. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. superintendent coranza. [applause] >> good morning, boys and girls. we can do better than that. when i say good morning, i want to yell as loud as you can. good morning. >> good morning! >> that is beautiful. are you excited to be back in school?

and one more time, good morning. >> good morning! >> we are excited to be here with the mayor who has a busy schedule. i will tell you why we wanted to be here at harvey milk. harvey milk looks like san francisco. it is the most diverse school in our district. it is a beautiful school. you know what is also great about harvey milk? we know, based on last year's assessment, we predict harvey milk will have great growth in student achievement again this year. isn't that great? [applause] that is great because we know it does not happen without the wonderful teachers you have. so i want you to be sure to listen and pay attention to your teacher this year and do what they say.

if you do, they will prepare you to be mayor one day or superintendent one day, or president one day. so listen to your teachers. you have a great principle. she fights for you every single day to make sure you have your resources to be successful. i brought some people with me that wanted to come and see harvey milk civil rights academy. these are people i work very closely with but they are so excited to be here because they heard about all the good news and all the good stuff here at harvey milk civil rights academy. first is our board member. hydra mendoza. the other person is the assistant superintendent that supervises harvey milk's above its academy, margaret chu. [applause] i also brought with me the deputies said pete produce superintendent for so solid justice, mr. garrido. this is such a special school, i brought two deputy

superintendent. the other deputy is in charge of policy and operations. myung lee. he is jumping back there. does anybody here want to be a lawyer? oh, come on, parents. this is so special, we brought the general counsel, the big lawyer in the district. his name is don davis, and he is over there. and then our director of communications is a factor as well. -- back there as well. why do i introduce the people to you? because we are so proud of harvey milk civil-rights academy, we all wanted to be here on the first day of school. this is not the last time you will see us. we want to come back to read in the classrooms. i understand you do a school

dance. maybe we get invited to do that. we want you to have a great school year. q want to thank all of you parents for all that you do. we cannot do this without you. let's have a great year. yay! [applause] >> thank you. we have traditions here at harvey milk. one of the traditions is a dance that we do. boys and girls, what do you do? tell us what we do. >> the cuban shuffle. >> come to the middle if you are going to do the cuban shuffle.

this is a dance that we do. parents, teachers, come on up. ♪

>> it was an exciting event for

those who wanted some long needed improvements. >> they saw it and they took care of it. >> the project is expected to open in spring, 2013. for more on the playground, includ >> you probably think you know all about the exploratorium. but have you ever been after dark? did you know there was a monthly party called after dark? science mixes with culture and

adults mix with other adults. no kids allowed. every week there is a different theme. to tell us about the themes is melissa alexander. tell us about some of the previous themes we have had. >> we have had sex ploration, sugar, red, blue. many things. >> what is the theme tonight? >> rock, paper, scissors. we are having a tournament tonight, but we have also used as a jumping off point to explore lots of different ideas. you can find out about rock, paper, scissors as a game as a reproductive strategy. you can interact with a piece of art created by lucky dragon. you can get your hair cut from a cool place called the public

barber's salon. they use scissors only. you can find out about local geology, too. >> that sounds like fun. let's check it out. >> this is the most common rock on the surface of the earth. interesting thing is, most of this rock is covered over by the ocean. >> error congested a cool presentation on plate tectonics. tell us about what we just saw. >> we wrapped up a section of a lesson on a plate tectonics, here at the exploratory and -- exploritorium. >> are you excited to see people here having fun and learning about science? >> the people that come here are some selected to begin with, they actually enjoy science. i teach